A STORY OF VICTORY – AT 9:01 A.M. ET:  This is terrific, just terrific.  It is wonderful to be able to report a story of victory by the good guys.  Consider this, from the great website, Planet Iran, edited by our friend Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi:

MUNICH, Germany – German engineering conglomerate Siemens (SIEGn.DE) said on Tuesday it would reject any further orders from Iran as world powers consider imposing wider sanctions on Tehran over its disputed nuclear activity.

Germany, one of six countries seeking to persuade Iran to suspend its atomic work, is one of the biggest exporters to Iran despite three rounds of modest United Nations sanctions prompted by past Iranian evasions of U.N. nuclear monitoring.

Western nations suspect the Islamic Republic of trying to develop nuclear weapons capability, a charge Tehran denies. It says that its uranium enrichment programme is designed solely for electricity generation, not atomic bombs.

Iran ignored a U.S. end-2009 deadline to respond to an offer from world powers of economic and political incentives in exchange for halting enrichment or face more sanctions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday Iran was running out of time if it wanted to avoid further sanctions.

Siemens, which is Europe’s biggest engineering conglomerate, was aware of the sensitivities attached to doing business in Iran, Chief Executive Peter Loescher said.

“Some time ago, we reduced our business activities with customers in Iran,” Loescher said, responding to questions at a shareholders meeting.

COMMENT:  Siemens has been one of the great villains in the sale of sensitive equipment to Iran.  Now, if the firm keeps its word, that will stop.

The untold story here is the fine work of a group called STOP THE BOMB, which has a terrific logo:

Represenatives from STOP THE BOMB go to shareholder meetings of offending European companies, and speak out against their corrupt trade with Iran.  And they get results.

I've met one of the leaders of the group, Dinah Simone Hartmann, who operates out of Vienna – a gutsy lady who puts herself at risk for a good cause.  I wish we had a group like that in America.

Congratulations to Dinah and her entire organization.

January 27, 2010